![Mayor J.B. Whitten announced the formation of a council to fight homelessness on Wednesday afternoon. [ASHLEIGH WILDE/NEWS BULLETIN]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-90cb67a9-df8e-451e-e053-0100007f3859-2cba960f.jpeg)
CRESTVIEW — Mayor J.B. Whitten announced a new homelessness initiative on Wednesday afternoon.
Whitten announced the forming of a council of community leaders to help aid homeless citizens. The initiative is the first to be announced under Whitten’s term as mayor.
The seven-person council will be chaired by Sarah Yelverton from the Homeless and Housing Alliance.
“This initiative is different than any other program I have done so far because it is not a cultural event, but a program to target an ongoing situation in the city,” Whitten said. “These are my people. It makes no difference to me whether they have a roof over their head or if they’re living in the woods. They are people of Crestview and I care about people.”
Whitten has been an active participant in fighting homelessness since his time on the City Council. He has recently worked with the Homelessness and Housing Alliance to figure out strategies to reduce the amount of people who can’t afford a home in Crestview.
“This issue is multi-faceted,” Whitten said. “There is no one solution for all of the homeless. They are all individuals made homeless by different reasons.”
While the council will not necessarily be able to completely eliminate homelessness in the area, Whitten wants to see the council create ways to give help to those who will take it.
Whitten said his ultimate hope for the council is to find ways to get people off the streets and into affordable housing.
“The council will form a strategic plan in which they will determine how they’re going to attack the issue,” Whitten said. “The thinking has evolved over the years from just temporarily taking care of people to how do we move them to get them into permanent housing.”
Pam Pannasch, president of the American Legion, believes the mayor’s initiative is a great idea.
“We help with the homeless a lot at American Legion, so this is a passion of mine” Pannasch said. “Bringing awareness to the problem is the first step in helping solve it. The mayor is very proactive in that.”
Joe Slusser, a former cold shelter volunteer, has seen the extent of homelessness in the area firsthand. Slusser believes the mayor’s new initiative should cause more people to get involved in helping others.
“They’re regular people even if most people have stereotyped them as drug and alcohol addicts,” Slusser said. “We have to take care of them because that is what Christ would do.”
The homelessness council will hold their first meeting next Wednesday at the Chamber office. Since the council is not a government board, the meetings will not be open to the public unless the council asks for it to be.
Members of the Homelessness Council
- Sarah Yelverton from the Okaloosa-Walton Homelessness and Housing Alliance
- Councilwoman Cynthia Brown
- Crestview Police Department Major Andrew Schneider
- Reverend Mark Broadhead
- Crestview Area Shelter for the Homeless president Ann Sprague
- Crestview Chamber of Commerce member Ryan Price
- A yet undecided member of the mental health community
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Whitten announces new homeless council